It is increasingly important that land-grant universities are able to demonstrate to the public that they are fulfilling their mission to direct intellectual resources and research discoveries to benefit communities. Toward this end, MSU developed the Outreach and Engagement Measurement Instrument (OEMI), which collects data about the outreach and engagement activities of MSU’s faculty and academic staff.

Each year, faculty and academic staff are asked to report their teaching, research, and service conducted for the direct benefit of audiences external to the academy. Since its first year of OEMI reporting in 2009, MSU now has one of the most sophisticated databases of scholarly outreach and engagement information within higher education. The OEMI is also being utilized at other institutions across the country.

Providing Reports of Engagement Activities

The data collected from the OEMI may be aggregated and used for providing reports to:

Colleges and Departments: Deans and other unit and central administrators can assess how individual academic units contribute to fulfilling the institution's outreach and engagement mission and how those contributions are changing over time. The data are also used as part of the metrics profile for annual planning and budgeting, and for evaluating the extent and breadth of the University's commitment to serving groups and organizations outside the academy.

Faculty and Academic Staff: Respondents to the OEMI are able to print or download a summary report of their outreach activities for annual merit reviews.

Contact: Burton A. Bargerstock, Executive Director, Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship; Director, Communication and Information Technology; Special Advisor to the Associate Provost